Tierra Del Fuego: What Is Left from the Precolonial Male Lineages?

RODRIGUES, P.; VELÁZQUEZ, I.F.; RIBEIRO, J.; SIMÃO, F.; AMORIM, A.; CARVALHO, E.F.; BRAVI, C.M.; BASSO, N.G.; REAL, L.E.; GALLI, C.; GONZÁLEZ, A.D.C.; GAMULIN, A.; SALDUTTI, R.; PAROLIN, M.L.; GOMES, V.; GUSMÃO, L.

Genes

MDPI

Año: 2022

Similar to other South American regions, Tierra del Fuego has an admixed populationcharacterized by distinct ancestors: Native Americans who first occupied the continent, Europeansettlers who arrived from the late 15th century onwards, and Sub-Saharan Africans who were broughtto the Americas for slave labor. To disclose the paternal lineages in the current population fromTierra del Fuego, 196 unrelated males were genotyped for 23 Y-STRs and 52 Y-SNPs. Haplotypeand haplogroup diversities were high, indicating the absence of strong founder or drift events.A high frequency of Eurasian haplogroups was detected (94.4%), followed by Native American(5.1%) and African (0.5%) ones. The haplogroup R was the most abundant (48.5%), with the subhaplogroup R-S116* taking up a quarter of the total dataset. Comparative analyses with otherLatin American populations showed similarities with other admixed populations from Argentina.Regarding Eurasian populations, Tierra del Fuego presented similarities with Italian and Iberianpopulations. In an in-depth analysis of the haplogroup R-M269 and its subtypes, Tierra del Fuegodisplayed a close proximity to the Iberian Peninsula. The results from this study are in line with thehistorical records and reflect the severe demographic change led mainly by male newcomers withpaternal European origin.